Car-coupling.



M. O. IRONSIDB.

GAR. COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1910.

1,093,781, Patented Apr. 21, 1914 Z SHEETS-SHEET 1.

, WITNESSES.-

[w jWAZl/ENTOR.

fl i m f m ATTORNEY. v

M. G. IRONSIDE.

' GAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6I 1910.

1,093,781. I Patented .21, 1914.

2 SHBE SHEET 2.

I M v y j/M n F ATTORNEY.

COLUMBIA PLAN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII c.

MATTHEW C. IRONSIIDE, OF KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

CAR-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914.

Application filed May 6, 1910. Serial No. 559,743.

1 b all whom it may concern iic it known that 1, MATTHEW O. IRoNsmn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Wyandotte and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Gouplers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in car couplers.

It is particularly adapted for employment in a coupler of the J anney type wherein a knuckle is pivotally mounted on a coupler head and is normally held in the closed position by a vertically movable locking pin.

One object of my invention is to provide novel means for swinging the knuckle to the open position and for lifting and supporting the locking pin in the released position.

Another object of my invention is to prevent wrecks, such as are occasioned by the pulling out of a draw head. Usually, the mechanism for lifting the pin and swinging the knuckle is attached to the car body in such a manner that when the coupler becomes detached from the car body by the pulling out of a draw head, the mechanlsm is accidentally actuated so as to cause the moving of the locking pin to the released position, thereby permitting the knuckle to swing to the open position, 1n whlch position the couplers become detached from each other and the one that has been drawn out is liable to fall upon the track and cause a wreck.

WVith my improved construction the locking pin cannot be moved to the released position nor the knuckle swung to the open position by the pulling out of the draw head. Preferably the coupler heads of my lnvention are provided with safety lips whereby the couplers which are held in locked engagementwith each other are prevented from slippin apart after one of them has become detac led from the car which supports it.

The different features of my invention are hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrative of the preferred form of my invention Figure 1 is a top view showing two couplers of my invention in locked engagement wlth each other. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the dotted line a-Z of Fig. 8, showing the knuckle and locking pin in the closed positions. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the locking pin resting on the shelf, the knuckle being shown in the closed position. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the rear end of one of the knuckles. Fig. 5 1s a rear elevation of the rocking member and a portion of the adjacent knuckle. Fig. 6 1s a vertical section on the dotted line 0-Z of Fig. 2, showing the locking pin in the locked position. Fig. 7 is a horizontal section on t 1e dotted line e f of Fig. 8, the knuckle being shown in solid lines in the closed posltion and in dotted lines in the open position. Fig. 8 is a side elevation showing my improved coupler attached to a car body, a portion of which is shown. Fig. 9 1s a front view of what is shown in Fig. 8.

Similar characters of reference denote similar parts.

1 denotes a coupler head of the J anney type, to which is pivoted, by means of a vertical pin 2, a knuckle 3, the rear end and underside of which is provided with a curved portion 4. Vertically slidable in the coupler head 1 is a vertical locking pin 5, which is provided in its forward side with a projection 6, adapted to rest upon a horizontal shelf 7 provided in the coupler head 1, when the locking pin has been raised to the released position shown in Fig. 3. The forward side of the locking pin 5 is provided with a notch 8, into which the rear end of the knuckle 3 is adapted to pass when the knuckle has been swung to the open position, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7. For first lifting the locking pin 5 to the released posit-ion shown in Fig. 3, and then swinging the knuckle 3 to the open position, any suitable means may be employed. For this purpose I preferably provide a rocking member comprising a horizontal rock shaft 9 which extends through suitable openings provided transversely through the coupler head 1. On the rock shaft 9 are provided means for lifting the pin 1 and swinging the knuckle 3. To accomplish this I preferably employ a sleeve 10 having a square hole in which is fitted a squared portion of the shaft 9. The sleeve 10 is provided with a cam 11, located in a recess 12 in the rear of the locking pin 5. The sleeve 10 is also pro vided with a spiral cam 13, which is adapted to engage the curved portion 4: of the knuckle 3, in a manner such that when the rock shaft 9 is swung in the proper direction and the cam 11 has engaged and lifted the pin-5,

the knuckle 3 will be swung to the open position. For rocking the shaft 9 I preferably employ a rock bar let, which is loosely rotatively mounted in a bracket 15, secured to the car body 16. The outer end of the crank bar 14: is provided with a crank arm 17. The other end of the crank bar L1 is provided with a crank arm 18, which extends through a transverse hole provided therefor in the rock shaft 9. hen the rock bar 9 is in the position shown in Figs. 2, 8 and 9, the crank arm 17 is preferably downwardly extending.

hen it is desired to swing the knuckle 3 to the open posit-ion, the crank arm 17 is swung forwardly toward the horizontal position, thereby rocking the shaft 9 and swinging forwardly and upwardly the cams 11 and 13. The disposition of the said cams is such that the cam 11 will first lift the locking pin 5 to the released position. As shown in Fig. 3, the upper end of the recess 12 is provided with an upwardly and rearwardly inclined portions 19, which rests against the cam 11. lVhen the pin 5 has been raised by the cam 11 to the released position, the projection (3 will be disposed above the shelf '7 and the pin 5 having its inclined portion 19 resting by gravity on the cam 11, will have its lower end slip forward on the cam 11 so that the projection G rests upon the shelf '7, as shown in Fig. Continued rocking of the shaft 9 in the same direction will cause the cam 11 to continue its upward movement without disturbing the pin 5, and the cam 13 will engage the knuckle 8 and will swing it to the open position. The relation of the recess 8 and the knuckle 3, is such that as the knuckle is being swung to the open position, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7, knuckle tail will bear against the rear side of the notched portion 8 of the pin 5 and will force said pin rearwardly and upwardly on the cam 11, thereby disengaging the pin from the shelf 7. If, new, the knuckle being in the fully open position, the crank arm 17 is released, the weight of the cams 11 and 13 and. of the crank arm 17 will cause the rock shaft 9 to be rocked to its initial position, shown in Fig. 2, and in Fig. (3. The pin 5, being unsupported by the cam 11, will drop upon the tail of the knuckle 3 by which it will be supported until the knuckle is swung by an opposing coupler to the locked position, when the pin will drop to the initial position shown in Fig. 6.

If it is desired to uncouple the coupler from one in which it is in locked engagement, the crank arm 17 is turned in the manner hereinbefore described, so as to raise the locking pin 5 to the released position, in which position it will slide forward, as already described, to the position shown in Fig. 3, in which position the pin will be sustained by the shelf 7. The crank arm 17 is then released, after which the weight of the cams 11 and 13, together with the weight of the crank arm 17, will cause the shaft 9 and crank bar 1-;t to rock to the initial position, shown in Fig. 9. The knuckle 3 is now released and the cars may be drawn apart, thereby swinging the knuckle 3 to the open position and disengaging the pin 5 from the supporting shelf 7.

It will be noted that the axes of the crank bar 14 and the rock shaft 3), where they intersect each other are substantially in the same horizontal plane, so that in case the coupler head 1 becomes detached accidentally from the car body is by the pulling of the draw head, the rock shaft 9 will not be rockedv so as to lift the pin 5. In case the draw head pulls out the bracket 15 will be torn from the car body 16, or the crank bar 1st will be straightened out at one end or the other, but any of these occurrences will not operate to rock the shaft f) as the pull thereupon by the crank bar Lt is not in a direction such as will cause rocking of said crank bar. To prevent a coupler falling to the track after it has been detached from the car supporting it, I provide an additional guard comprising a forwardly extending lip 20, on the coupler head 1, the lip being so disposed as to support; the opposing knuckle 3 and prevent its downward movementout of engagement with the other knuckle. The upper side of the lip 20 is preferably forwardly and downwardly inclined so that it will shed water.

I do not confine my invention to the structure shown and described, as various n1odi fications, within the scope of the appended claims, may be made without departing from its spirit.

Having thus described my l1l\'6l1l1l0ll,\\'li2li I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patcut is In a car coupler, a coupler head having a. shelf, a laterally and vertically movable locking pin having an inclined face, a rock member having two unyielding cams one having means for engaging said inclined face for lifting the pin and guiding it laterally onto said shelf, and a knuckle pivoted to the coupler head and movable by the other cam to the open position, the knuckle having means by which as it is moved to the open position, it will dislodge and hold the locking pin disengaged from said shelf.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MAT'IHEIV C. l'R-ONSlDlG. Witnesses:

E. B. HOUSE,

CHESTER THoaIAs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

